Fun Read

It’s Kate McDaid’s birthday and she’s hoping to kickstart her rather stagnant love-life and career when she gets some very strange news. To her surprise, she is the sole benefactor of a great-great-great-great aunt and self-proclaimed witch also called Kate McDaid, who died over 130 years ago. As if that isn’t strange enough, the will instructs that, in order to receive the inheritance, Kate must publish seven letters, one by one, week by week.

Burning with curiosity, Kate agrees and opens the first letter – and finds that it’s a passionate plea to reconnect with the long-forgotten fairies of Irish folklore. Instantly, Kate’s life is turned upside down. Her romantic life takes a surprising turn and she is catapulted into the public eye. As events become stranger and stranger – and she discovers things about herself she’s never known before – Kate must decide whether she can fulfil the final, devastating step of the request . . . or whether she can face the consequences if she doesn’t.

Reluctantly Charmed is about what happens when life in the fast lane collides with the legacy of family, love and its possibilities… and a little bit of magic.

The front cover of Reluctantly Charmed says “Witty, enchanting and utterly addictive” .. I’m going to have to agree. This was such a quirky, gorgeously fun read. It’s a story of a girl, and what she needs to do step out of her comfort and truly ‘trust her instincts’. Can she believe? Can she make the right choices? Ellie O’Neill writes in a fun, easy to read manner that had me turning the page rapidly, eager to read the words on the next and the next and the next page, until I finally closed the book. There’s a lot of characters that make up the story, and at times I had to double back and re-check who was who, but it didn’t take away from the charming story. The Irish countryside, the characters of the little Irish village, it all had me sighing and wishing I could be whisked away to Ireland and the land of fae, just to see if I could find the fairy fort….. what if…

About the Author:

Ellie O’Neill sold spider catchers in Sydney, flipped burgers in Dublin, and worked in advertising in London, but all the while she had that niggling feeling she had stories to tell. Swapping the dizzy disco lights of London for her parents’ suburban Dublin house, she scribbled away knowing that there was something about Irish fairies she needed to share with the world. Then, most unexpectedly, Ellie fell madly in love. Five years later, Geelong, Australia, is home to Ellie, her Joe, and their fabulous baby. Ellie is currently working on her second book.

Tobi Fletcher’s career is going places. Just ask her. Any day now, she’s going to write the story for her Sante Fe newspaper that will Make A Difference. Of course, Pulitzer prizes and the like will soon follow.

Unfortunately, her editor doesn’t have the same vision. His vision has her investigating a series of gnomicides. Yes, gnomicides the wanton murder of garden gnomes.

It’s a nightmare for Tobi. She’s spent her life working towards a career she can be proud of and proving she’s nothing like her mother. She’s intelligent, independent and so uptight she can’t even let go to sneeze properly and, unlike her colleagues, she certainly can’t appreciate the funny side of the situation. She wants to work on the big story a cover-up in a senator’s office.

Reluctantly, she interviews Simon, the man who reported the ‘incident’ to the newspaper clearly a lunatic his four-year old daughter, and the other residents of the street. Each has their own theory about the murderer, ranging from the slightly possible to the ludicrous and Tobi, unfortunately affected by her pollen allergy and having to repress sneezes regularly, writes the story.

Her editor loves it and demands more; interstate papers pick it up and reader feedback is overwhelming. Apparently, she’s not going anywhere just yet and, dammit, that means facing her pesky attraction to Simon. Along the way, Tobi discovers there are many truths and secrets to be uncovered other people’s as well as her own. The question is, will the truth really set her free?

By far one of my favourite reads of 2014. The gnome puns kept me smiling throughout the book, and the relationships of the street meshing together made for a gnomely (read: homely rhymes with gnomely!!) feel. I enjoyed the relationship / romance build up of the main characters, and it was nice to read a female character who was in control, but not obnoxiously so. Watching her unravel and release that control without realising it was a delight, and I loved the way it all wrapped up in the end. This book proves you don’t need R rated scenes to create a love/suspenseful/mystery story. The author did a great job giving each of the multitude of characters their own story and background without going overboard. It’s a story that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. A great, fun, clean read for the summer.

Rachel Bailey developed a serious book addiction at a young age (via Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck) and has never recovered. Just how she likes it. She went on to gain degrees in psychology and social work but is now living her dream writing romance for a living. Her books have hit the USA Today bestseller list, are published in over twenty-six countries and have been translated into sixteen languages. She lives on a piece of paradise on Australia’s east …